Dan said: > So, you would analyze TS Eliot by simply inserting "English Major > technobabble" for all of his references to earlier literature?
No, because references to earlier literature are relevant to Eliot's work being literature. Are you contending that the various religious references in American discourse are not peripheral to the debates (as I had assumed) but are central? In other words, that American politics is in some sense theological or theocratic? > What literature and thought do you think Western Civilization is > founded upon? The Roman approach to law and Greek views on government, mostly. Together with a dash of Middle Eastern religion (although much of Christian theology seems to derive from Platonic ideas by way of Plotinus, says he who has a somewhat limited knowledge of theology). But on the other hand, this is mixing the distinct issues of the historical development of Western civilisation with the axiomatisation of modern thought. Asserting that religious thought is foundational to modern civilisation because modern ideas have developed from originally religious roots seems to me to be somewhat akin to asserting that Wilson-Sommerfeld semiclassical mechanics is foundational to modern quantum field theory. > I'd be happy to start a thread on that. The only caveat is that my > wife and I are taking an early anniversary trip to Banff in a few > hours...so responses after the next few hours will probably have to > wait until Wednesday evening. I don't think I'd be able to participate in a thread, both because of lack of competence and lack of time. The next few weeks are going to be very hectic here. My grandad, who is currently in hospital after a stroke, is going to be returning home and I am redecorating part of his house as a downstairs bedroom for him to use until he's steady enough to manage his stairs again. Also, my uncle is going into hospital for cancer surgery tomorrow (he has diagnosed this week with bladder cancer), which means I'll be spending much of my time visiting him and making sure his kids are coping with it all. I've been trying to avoid being drawn into long threads here, on the Culture or in the Blogosphere because I don't have enough time to give my discussion partners the time they deserve (I keep hoping that the steady stream of crises and disasters in my life might slow or stop, but alas not...). I'm, however, more than eager to accept recommendations of books that might help my education in the history of western thought (especially of religious thought). Rich _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
